BASKETBALL: Bears ready for challenge

Thursday

The New Bern Bears feel they have figured things out on the basketball court.

After dropping six of their first seven games, they are heading into Mideastern Conference play with momentum.

The Bears have won three of their last five games, including a split at the West Bladen Christmas Tournament last week.

Now at 4-8, they begin conference play tonight in Wilmington against New Hanover — the defending 4A state champs.

“We are playing better,” New Bern coach Cliff Dillard said. “We’ve improved. New Hanover is going to be a good challenge. The league is a good league like it is every year.”

The Bears finished last in the six-team league last season, but put up a fight against some of the top teams.

They were within five points of New Hanover with less than five minutes remaining last season before falling 65-40. New Bern lost in four overtimes to Laney in the first round of the conference tournament.

Most of New Bern’s players were either freshmen or sophomores.

“Last year, we were kind of role players,” sophomore Miller Mills said. “This year, we are the leaders, putting up more shots, attacking and getting your teammates shots.

“It was a good experience last year, just getting that playing time early.”

Without a senior on this year’s squad, the Bears are hoping to compete for a playoff berth.

Dillard said his team is beginning to believe it can compete.

“We feel we are moving in the right direction,” Dillard said. “We feel we are growing and getting better. We are starting to learn how to win. The third step is that when we step on the court, we should expect to win.”

Mills leads New Bern in points (10.7) and rebounds (10.0) per game. He suffered an injury in the first game of the season, miss several games, and is back to being a vital performer for the Bears.

“He is a double-double guy,” Dillard said. “He is a heck of a basketball player. For him to be healthy is a huge key.”

The Bears are finally starting to get healthy, and it showed at the holiday tournament. Mills was named to the all-tournament team and sophomore Michael Hughes, who missed a few games because of football, scored in double figures both games.

Only junior Theron Noble, sophomore Chris Mimms and junior Jeff Taylor have played all 12 games.

“We are feeling good,” said Noble, who is averaging 7.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. “We are ready. We’ve been working hard in practice, trying to get some wins.”

Mimms is scoring 9.2 points, while Hughes is averaging 8.0 and junior Jailen Ganus is putting up 7.3 points.

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